A Different Kind Of Howe's
by A Writer With Mixed Interests
Summary: Instead of being brought to the cabin, Luke and Pete brought Clementine to Howe's Hardware, a safe camp where things are stable and people are relatively content. What would the place have been like if William Carver wasn't a psychopath, but a normal leader? *Co-written with Assassin's Creed Master*
1. Welcome To Howe's

**A Different Kind Of Howe's**

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><p><strong>Hey guys, it's me again. This is another co-written story with Assassin's Creed Master; this story was actually his idea, not mine, and he allowed me to post it onto my profile this time. This will probably be two or three chapters long. We hope you enjoy this first story of ours for 2015. <strong>

**Disclaimer: The Walking Dead Game belongs to Telltale Games and Skybound Entertainment.**

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><p>Clementine was too weak to move as she clutched her injured arm. Her saviors: two men in their fifties and dispatched of the walkers and the one in the orange shirt quickly picked up Clementine and they ran through the woods.<p>

After running for a few minutes and outrunning the walkers, they were safe, and the man with the green jacket turned towards Clementine. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm...fine," Clementine responded, rubbing her arm which had been bitten by a dog, Sam, after he'd taken hold of her food. She'd had to kill him out of mercy once he was injured.

"What were you doing out here all on your own?" Pete inquired as they stopped running and decided to walk causally.

"I got separated from my friend Christa, we were cooking a weasel, and she got caught by bandits," Clementine explained, lowering her head. She decided to introduce herself. "My name's Clementine."

"Nice to meet you, Clementine, I'm Pete," the man with the green jacket interested himself. He gestured his hand to the man carrying her. "And this here's Luke."

"Hey," Luke nodded down at Clem. "We're going to get you back to our place, okay? We've got a doctor, and you look like you could use some - oh, SHIT!" He had a panicked expression on his face, and immediately dropped her.

"Luke, what the hell!" Pete scolded, unaware of the reason why he dropped her.

"Pete, she's bit!" Luke cried. He placed his hands to his head. "Fuck, man, what are we going to do?!"

"Oh, Jesus." Pete sighed when he noticed her bite mark.

"I'm not bitten!" Clementine cried. "It was a dog!"

Luke looked as though he didn't believe her.

"I didn't see no dog, Clementine." Pete told her whilst Luke paced around the area nervously. He knelt down to her and lifted up her sleeve, examining her arm closely. "Damn, that looked like it hurt. Hmm."

"So, a dog comes up, bites you, and just...disappears? Just some magical asshole dog in the forest?" Luke inquired suspiciously. "If it was really a dog, then where is it?"

"I...I had to kill it," Clementine admitted with a sigh.

"What? Really?" Luke asked, almost incredulously. "That's just...you don't do that. You don't kill dogs."

"What would you have done if a dog attacked you?" Pete asked him whilst he continued to examine Clementine's arm.

"I don't know!" Luke cried, pacing around briefly. He eventually stopped, and looked over. "So...was it a dog?"

"I'm not sure, could be." Pete admitted as he finished looking at her arm and stood back up. "Well, I'm not willing to leave a little girl here in the woods when we got doctors back at Howe's. Come on, we'll let Carlos have a look."

"Well, fine, fine. But I ain't carrying her anymore with that bite on her arm," Luke placed his hands on his hips.

Pete helped Clementine stand up, and the three of them began walking. But the eleven-year-old was walking at a much slower pace, and she was beginning to feel drowsy.

"You okay, Clementine?" Pete inquired as he and Luke stopped to check up on her.

"Yeah, I'm fine...just...tired..." Clementine trailed off, before falling to the ground.

"Aw, shit!" was the last thing she heard from Luke as her world blackened.

When she woke up, she felt something moving. Pete was standing over her, and backed away slightly when she opened her eyes. Looking around, Clementine realized that she was in the back of a vehicle.

"Clementine." Pete greeted. "Jesus, we thought you were dead."

Clementine leaned up and looked around her surroundings. She was in the back of looked like a delivery truck, and inside was Luke, Pete, and another man who looked Asian.

"She okay?" the Asian man inquired.

"She's okay, Vince. I think." Pete replied.

Clementine sat up, slowly but surely. "Where...where am I? Where are we going?"

"We're takin' you back to our camp, our doctor is going to fix your arm," Luke responded, although he still had a somewhat doubtful look on his face.

"Shouldn't be too long." Vince informed her. "Around twenty minutes."

Clementine was unsure of what to think. She had to find Christa, and these people were taking her somewhere that was probably far away. So, she decided to make conversation by asking about the camp. "So, where is this place? Is it safe?"

"Yeah, it's safe all right." Pete answered as he took a seat down and leaned against the wall of the truck. "It's not too far, still in Carolina."

"You think you can hold on until then?" Vince asked her. "I mean, even if it wasn't a lurker bite, I think all the blood loss could be deadly."

"I think so," Clementine responded, putting some pressure on her arm to (hopefully) stop the blood flow. She figured that she hadn't been out for all that long.

It took around twenty minutes like Vince said until they arrived at their destination. The back of the door opened and standing before her were three people. A woman with red hair, a man with camo clothes, and a man with a checkered shirt with black hair.

The four of them walked out, and the man with the checkered shirt narrowed his eyes towards Clementine. "Hmm, I take it this is the girl who got bit?"

"Yeah," Luke confirmed. He turned his attention towards Clementine. "This is Carlos. He's one of the main doctors here."

"Come with me." Carlos told Clementine as he placed his hand upon her shoulder and escorted her inside.

"I'll go and let Bill know." Vince informed them, marching away to another area of Howe's.

Clementine was escorted into some kind of medical area and was placed onto a bed with Carlos examining her arm. Luke and Pete were there too, watching with concern.

"It was a dog bite, honest," Clementine explained. She glanced up at Pete and Luke, before turning away.

"Well? What is it?" Luke inquired after a few minutes.

"It looks like it could have been a dog bite." Carlos admitted, but he was not one-hundred percent sure.

Before he could continue further, the door opened and a man with grayish hair and mustache walked inside. He looked somewhat scary, but Clementine couldn't judge him yet.

"I take it this is the girl you both found." he assumed with a scratchy voice.

Clementine nodded, and the man approached her with a smile. He was clearly the leader around here, since he seemed to have that attitude and appearance.

"Clementine right?" he greeted as he changed his expression to a somewhat serious one. "Now you swear that your injury was from a dog, right? Well here at Howe's, our one major rule is no tolerance for lying. So I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me the truth. Was it a dog bite?"

Clementine stared into his brown eyes and nodded once. "Yes, sir. I'm telling the truth."

Carver seemed to be satisfied with her answer and nodded. "Well then, I'm going to take your word for it. Carlos, fix her arm."

"Are you sure?" Carlos asked.

"I wouldn't ask you to if I wasn't sure." Carver explained as he turned around and proceeded to leave the room. "Once she's fixed up, escort her out to the yard."

Carlos nodded obediently, taking out one of the first-aid kits and gathering what he needed. Clementine couldn't help but wince, taking notice of the bottle of peroxide, which stung pretty badly when applied to a bleeding injury.

It took a few minutes until he was done sewing up her injury and then he proceeded to wrap bandages around her arm. "You were lucky Luke and Pete found you when they did."

"At least know we know she was telling the truth." Pete added as he turned over towards Luke, who massaged his temple.

"Thank you," Clementine told the doctor slowly.

She got up off of the bed and followed Carlos, Luke, and Pete out to the yard, where there were some other people. There was a fence all boarded up, a couple of fireplaces, and a lot of single-sized beds.

"I need to go back to work. Tell Sarah I'll be back soon." Carlos requested to Pete and Luke who each gave him a nod in agreement.

"Come on, Clem; let me introduce you to everybody." Pete replied as he escorted Clementine over towards a nearby table where a younger man and an older woman were talking. Surprisingly, he shared a resemblance with Kenny. "This is my sister Helen and my nephew Nick."

"Hello dear." Helen greeted. "Is she new?"

Luke nodded. "We found her in the woods, saved her from some walkers," he told her. "She almost died from a dog bite infection."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "Dog bite infection?"

"She got bit by a dog, and as you know, the infection is in the air." Pete pointed out the obvious. "Her wound was pretty bad."

"Oh," Nick nearly deadpanned.

"It's nice to meet you, sweetheart." Helen greeted with a kind smile. "What's your name?"

"I'm Clementine," the little girl introduced herself. Helen held out her hand, and Clementine shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Clementine." Helen replied. "We hope you can be happy here at Howe's."

Clementine looked around briefly and nodded. "This place does seem safe so far," she commented.

Helen nodded before Pete decided to introduce her to more of their people. In the middle of the area where lawn chairs were scattered in a circle around a fire. Sitting there was a girl reading a book and a guy who...Only had one arm?

"Clementine, this is Carlos' daughter Sarah and this is Reggie." Pete introduced them.

"Hi," Sarah waved, giving a small yet shy smile.

"Hey," Clem greeted.

"Hi there, I'm Reggie." Reggie introduced himself as she shook Clementine's hand with his one hand.

"I'm Clementine."

They let go, and Clementine sat in one of the lawn chairs for a moment. She tried not to stare at Reggie's one arm, but he noticed her curious glance anyway.

"It's okay, it's hard not to stare." Reggie assured with a small smile. He decided to explain his story to her. "I was working outside when a lurker snuck up on me and bit me. That guy over there, who's sleeping, saved my life."

Clementine nodded, but was left a little confused. Why didn't this work for Lee?

But there was nothing that could have been done to save him, it seemed like.

"Are you okay? You look sad," Sarah pointed out.

Clementine blinked. "Huh? Yeah, sorry."

Pete decided to join his family and allowed Reggie to take over.

"Those two over there are Alvin and Rebecca." Reggie informed her, gesturing his one arm over to a sleeping couple. "They're expecting their baby soon so they're being moved inside."

Clementine glanced at them before turning back to Reggie. "I guess I'll be meeting the others tomorrow?" she inquired.

"Yeah, Mike's sleeping right now and gets cranky if he wakes up." Reggie agreed, but it was still a little early until nighttime arrived. "So is there anything you would like to know about this place, Clementine?"

"What do you do around here? Do you have jobs?" Clementine asked.

"We're working together to help build this community into a better place." Reggie answered. "The work here is not all that difficult. Most people work to build barricades around the area, we have guards who patrol the rooftops day and night, people who are in charge of all of our food and drinks, and those who keep weapons in check."

Clementine decided to ask another question she had in mind. "Is there a woman named Christa anywhere around here?" It couldn't hurt to ask, besides, this was a large place and Christa could've been anywhere at this point.

"Christa?" Reggie repeated. "I don't think so; we have had any new comers recently until you. Is she your mother or something?"

"Umm, no. We got separated last night," Clementine explained. "She got caught by bandits while we were cooking a weasel, and I haven't seen her since."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Clementine." Reggie apologized, but he had nothing to be sorry for. "If you remember where she last was, maybe I can try and convince Bill to search for her next time they're around that area."

Clementine wasn't sure if she remembered, so right now she only gave Reggie a small smile. "Thank you, Reggie."

"Of course." Reggie nodded as he examined her bandaged arm. "So, what happened to you if you don't mind me asking?"

"A dog bit me. Luke and Pete found me and brought me here," Clementine explained. "Carlos fixed my arm."

"That looks like it hurts," Sarah told her.

Clementine shrugged. "It's not that bad...anymore."

"Better that losing it." Reggie chuckled and made a joke of his one arm. It was hard to believe he lost something special yet was still quite cheerful.

At that moment, the security shutters opened and in walked Carlos after he was done for the day. Sarah ran over to greet him.

She hugged him and led him over to the fire. Carlos seemed to glance at Clementine doubtfully, as if he were wondering what she was doing with his daughter.

"Sweetie, why don't you go and read your book for a while?" Carlos offered, and Sarah nodded as she ran over towards their bed area. After she was gone, he turned towards Clementine with a serious face. "Clementine, may I ask have you been talking to my daughter? If so, what about?"

"We...didn't really talk much," Clem replied honestly. "Reggie was telling me about the camp."

"Well, if you wish to befriend my daughter, there are a couple of things you need to know." Carlos stated as he shared a quick glance towards his daughter before resuming the subject. "She isn't like you. You may not get that at first, but once you're around her long enough, you'll understand."

He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "If you knew what it was like out there, how bad it was...She would cease to function. She's my little daughter, and I would ask that you please not inform her of what it is really like out there."

Clementine didn't really know how to react, but she decided to reply anyway. "I won't tell her anything. You can trust me."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Carlos expressed his gratitude. He got up and proceeded to join his daughter near their beds.

"Don't mind Carlos, he's a little overprotective of his daughter." Reggie explained.

I can see that, Clementine thought. But she understood, Carlos only wanted to protect Sarah and keep her safe.

Before long had passed, one of the guards arrived with a tray with bowls of food on the table. "Dinner's served." he announced.

"What are we having tonight?" Pete inquired.

"Spaghetti and meatballs." he answered, waiting until everyone grabbed a bowl, and luckily, he put in an extra bowl for Clementine.

Clementine took a bowl gratefully. Spaghetti had been one of her favorite meals before the apocalypse, and she never thought that she would get to eat it again. She took a bite, savoring it. She had nearly forgotten how delicious it was.

"Feels good to have normal food again, huh?" Pete chuckled as everyone took a seat around the fire and enjoyed their dinner.

Alvin and Rebecca were also present and ate together in silence (Rebecca eating yet a little faster due to her pregnancy). Clementine had yet to meet them properly.

"This is Alvin and Rebecca," Luke introduced.

"Hey there." Alvin greeted with a smile and nod.

"Nice to meet you." Rebecca replied, but at the moment, she looked more interested in her food than meeting new faces due to her craving so much.

"Hi," Clementine returned the greeting. For a few minutes, everyone ate in silence until Nick spoke up.

"So, do we need to barricade anything tomorrow?"

"I think a couple of us need to work on those couple of stores outside." Reggie answered after taking a bite out of his dinner. "And aside from that, Tavia needs a couple of people to pick some berries in the greenhouse."

"And Bill mentioned that need some more gas for their generator." Alvin added.

Clementine thought about the generator at the St. John's family dairy farm, how it kept the electric fence turned on, preventing walkers from coming in. "The generator produces the electricity, right?"

"Yep." Pete confirmed. "And a good thing too. When we get some heaters installed, we can keep this place warm for the winter. And keep the place lit up too."

"Too bad we still can't watch TV." Helen added. She made a good point though.

"There would probably be no channels anyway," Luke pointed out with a light snicker.

"Exactly." Helen nodded before resuming back into her dinner.

Since they had a new guest in their community now, Carlos decided to introduce Clementine properly to their group if she was staying. "So Clementine, if you don't mind, may we ask where you are from?"

Clementine placed her fork back into her bowl. After a moment's hesitation, she decided to share her information with these new people. "I lived in Georgia, near Atlanta," she responded. "My parents went on vacation and left me with a baby-sitter. A man found me and took care of me. We were with a big group, and tried to survive, but...it didn't work."

"We're sorry to hear that, Clementine." Carlos replied, giving his condolences.

"Atlanta, huh?" Pete repeated, followed with a whistle. "You've come a hell of a long way, Clem."

Clementine nodded in agreement. "My friend Christa and I were heading north," she explained.

"North, huh?" Reggie said. "Why would you want to go there? No offense or anything, but I heard it's really cold."

"We found a map to a place called Wellington, it's supposed to be a big camp in Ohio."

For a moment, it sounded like Nick muttered about this so-called camp being bullshit.

But now that Clementine was here, was there any reason to continue on to Wellington other than Christa?

She didn't know, and decided not to think about it at the moment. Perhaps Christa would somehow show up here, and they would be safe here. The whole perimeter seemed secure enough, and there was food, water, and shelter for everybody.

After finishing their dinner and staying up for a little while longer, everyone tucked in for the night. Clementine got into the bottom of one of bunk beds that had a small mattress with a blanket and pillow. It felt strange sleeping in a bed again.

"Lights out!" a guard called out, a second later the power was off.

Clementine closed her eyes and was ready for sleep, exhausted from today's events. Tomorrow was going to be a new day.

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><p><strong>There's the first chapter. Be on the lookout for Chapter 2 which will be here tomorrow, and please be sure to tell us what you think. And also, happy new year to everyone reading. <strong>


	2. First Tasks

**We appreciate the feedback we have received so far. I don't know if I'm the only one, but sometimes FanFiction appears to have an error when you click on this story and some others. Oh well, hopefully the problem will be fixed shortly. But until then, please enjoy Chapter 2 of A Different Kind Of Howe's.**

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><p>In the morning, Clementine awoke to someone shaking her, and saw Luke standing over her.<p>

"Hey, time to get up," he told her. "Bill's going to want to talk about you to the community."

Clementine nodded and leaned up a little too fast, whacking her head against the next bed above. She rubbed her hand against her head and joined the others around the area.

Carver was also there, giving today's assignments. "Luke and Nicholas will be taking the morning guard shift, Carlos, as usual; you'll be helping the injured. Peter will be fixing up that old comic book store, and then later you and Nicholas will be going on a supply run with Vince and Bonnie. Rebecca, Alvin and Helen will be on kitchen duty. Our new comer Clementine will be helping Sarah in the greenhouse. Any questions?"

Clementine arched an eyebrow to why Carver kept using full names.

When all was silent, Carver nodded in approval. He beckoned Reggie over and told him to take Clementine and Sarah up to the greenhouse, telling him that he was in charge, and walked off to fulfill whatever duties he needed to attend to.

As they walked through Howe's, Clementine got the chance to observe the building. This place was like a fortress. And according to Reggie, they were still upgrading.

Once they made it to the roof via a fire exit, they walked inside the greenhouse and Reggie began to explain their job, even though Sarah did this before. "Okay girls, all we need to do is pick off the berries and any dead branches for composting. Sound simple?"

"I think we can do it," Clementine answered, and Sarah nodded in agreement. The girls picked up their shears and went over to their assigned work stations.

"Okay then." Reggie nodded and seemed satisfied with that. Then for no reason, he patted Clementine on the head a couple of times, receiving an awkward glare from her. "That was awkward, I'm going to go and work now."

Clementine watched after him for a couple of seconds, and then turned to do her own work. She turned over to look at Sarah, who had an unreadable expression on her face. But it seemed like she was handling the work okay without any help.

It took a few minutes until Reggie returned to check on their progress. "Just came to see how you're both getting along."

"I think we're doing okay," Clementine confirmed. Reggie nodded and gave her a small smile before returning to his own work.

It took around fifteen minutes until Clementine and Sarah were finished with their jobs. Reggie returned and praised them both. "Good job, girls."

"Thanks!" Sarah chirped.

At that moment, Carver came to the roof to check on things. After looking around briefly, he seemed to have a look of approval on his face.

"Looks like you all done a good job. Reggie, take Sarah to the storage area to move." Carver ordered as he turned back towards Clementine. "As for you, come with me."

Clementine nodded and began to follow Carver out of the greenhouse.

Carver escorted her through Howe's up to his office that had a view of the store. "Take a seat." he offered as he sat down into his own.

Clementine obliged, and sat down in a chair across from him. "You want to talk to me?"

"Indeed." he nodded. "In case you were unaware Clementine, you're a unique person, they kind of strong person we need in this community. For a little girl, you certainly handle yourself well and must think smart; otherwise you wouldn't have made it this long."

"Um, thanks," Clementine replied, wondering where this conversation was going to go.

"Someone of your talents could be very handy." Carver continued as he took out a Colt Python and placed it in the desk. "I take it you know how to use a gun."

Clementine nodded in confirmation. "There was a man who took care of me, taught me to survive." She still felt a little uncomfortable mentioning Lee to a practical stranger, but she knew she would have to eventually.

"Hmm, I see." Carver replied, understanding that she felt a little awkward with sharing this information with him. "And tell me, how many of the undead have you killed? 10, 20, 50, 100?"

In the last two years, it was no secret that Clementine had killed quite a few walkers. "I've...lost count," she admitted. This answer seemed to intrigue Carver.

"Really?" he grinned that felt Clementine felt a little nervous. "And what about people?"

Clementine stopped. Why was he so curious? The only person she had actually killed was Lee, and that was out of mercy. She always hated to think about it. Yet she had indirectly caused the deaths of others, such as Omid.

"No people, huh?" Carver assumed when he noticed her silence. "Well, I suppose you're lucky not to encounter any bandits or rapists out there, and here at Howe's, we're perfectly clean from people like them, just like normal human beings."

"I like it so far," Clementine couldn't help but say. "Umm...if a woman named Christa comes by, can you tell her that I've been looking for her? She has dark skin and wears an orange jacket."

"I'll keep that in mind." Carver noted before he placed his hand upon the Colt Python and slid it over towards Clementine. "Everyone at Howe's has a job to do to help build this community into a better place. I want to see your skills with a gun. Here."

Clementine picked up the Colt Python and examining it closely. The only gun she ever used were usually pistols, but this gun didn't look all that different.

"Come with me." Carver ordered as he stepped away from his desk and proceeded to escort Clementine somewhere.

He left his office and led Clementine to a shooting range, where there were people training to use guns. Carver looked on and placed a hand on the little girl's shoulder.

"Show me what you can do." Carver instructed as he took a couple of steps back to observe her skills. "But be cautious, that gun only carries up to four bullets and it's quite powerful."

Clementine obliged and walked up to one of the targets. As usual, Lee's instructions ran clear through her mind, and she relaxed her elbows, taking a breath before pulling the trigger. Her first shot was a bulls-eye. Carver wasn't kidding when he said that the gun was powerful, because the shot made Clem stumble back slightly.

Nevertheless, she fired her remaining bullets and was able to hit the target each time.

Carver reproached her and smiled slightly as he accepted the gun out of her hand and reloaded it. "Not bad, Clementine, but let's see how good you are at shooting a moving target." He turned around and nodded towards a guard nearby who returned the nod and pulled a switch.

Clementine took the gun again once it was reloaded and noticed the target was now moving side to side.

She got her firearm ready and began to aim carefully. After a few seconds of aiming, she pulled the trigger and just barely got to the target.

"Nice shot." Carver praised. She handed him his Colt Python back. "You're proven yourself to be a good marksman here. I can't remember the last time I saw a kid use a gun that great. I was going to teach Sarah, but her father wouldn't allow it."

"She needs to learn eventually," Clementine pointed out. But there was nothing that they could do as long as Carlos was in the picture.

"I agree, but unfortunately, I can't force Carlos to let me teach her." Carver explained as they turned around and walked back into the building. "Still, we got plenty of guards and guns; we got nothing to worry about."

"Right," Clementine agreed. "So...is there anything that I should do now?"

"Head to the armory down the hall now." Carver instructed, pointing his finger towards the said destination. "There will be a woman in there named Bonnie."

"Okay," Clementine responded, and headed down the hall. Inside was a redheaded woman, presumably Bonnie, putting together some rifles.

"Hey there." she greeted in a friendly tone whilst she finished putting one rifle together and proceeded to start on another one. "You're the new girl, right?"

"My name's Clementine," Clementine introduced herself. Bonnie handed her a rifle and instructed her on what she needed to do.

"Nice to meet you, Clementine, I'm Bonnie." Bonnie introduced herself as she picked up a different AK-47 and demonstrated what she needed to do. "We're just attaching rifles together and reloading them. It's easy. Just attach this one here, pull back on this, and place the magazines here. Simple."

Clementine understood the instructions and picked up another AK-47. She could shoot pistols and things of the like pretty well, but she was still too small for a rifle. But perhaps she could learn during her time here.

"That's it, you got it." Bonnie praised whilst she was working on her own AK-47. "So how do you like Howe's so far?"

"I'm liking it okay," Clementine responded, loading up the rifle. "Pete and Luke found me in the woods with a dog bite on my arm."

"Ouch, sounds like it was bad." Bonnie admitted, placing a rifle down then proceeded to start on another one. "So mind if I ask where you came from? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but in this community, Carver taught us it was important to share."

"I came from a suburb of Atlanta," Clementine explained. "I was with a baby-sitter, but...she got bit, and turned."

"I'm sorry to hear that, darling." Bonnie admitted with a look of sadness across her face. "Have you...Been on your own since all this began?"

_Not again,_ Clementine thought. But she was brought up to know that keeping too many things to yourself wasn't healthy.

"No. My baby-sitter gave me some food and told me to hide in my treehouse. I was on my own for a couple days, but then this man found me. His name was Lee; he took care of me and taught me how to survive. We were with a big group, but...they're all dead. Lee too." Clementine looked at the ground solemnly.

"I bet it was rough." Bonnie agreed with a followed sigh. "I know how it feels to lose the folks you loved. My mama died before all this began. I was on drugs at the time, but I was with these two people who helped take care of me. Leland and Dee..." she closed her eyes for a moment to prevent tears from shedding. "One night, Dee claimed she found a bag of supplies, but she actually stole them and the people she stole them from chased us into a corn field. It was so dark, it was hard to see. I took cover and heard someone coming; I thought it was one of the people chasing us. I...I hit them with a pipe, but then I realized I hit Dee...I killed her..."

"That's awful," Clementine muttered sadly. She looked at Bonnie with shameful golden eyes. "Seems like we've all lost people we loved."

"Yeah, we have." Bonnie agreed whilst he continued her story. "Dee died believing I killed her on purpose and Leland found us a moment later. I...I couldn't tell him the truth; I just told him I found her like that. We left together, but after what happened, we parted ways. I met up with a few people in this community. Vince, Wyatt, Russell, Shel and Becca. Tavia offered us to come here and we all joined her."

"That's a lucky break," Clementine admitted. Ten minutes later, the two females were finished up. Bonnie handed Clementine a bucket of nails, telling her to bring them to Nick and Pete.

She escorted her to the fire exit where she was on the outside of Howe's with a wood barrier along the pathway that protected them and cut them off from the walkers. Bonnie went with her and called out to the guard on the roof. "Hey Troy, Clementine's just going to take Nick and Pete some nails!"

"All right!" Troy called in return. "Just follow the wires to the last shop."

Clementine obliged, and opened the door to the last shop where Nick and Pete were working on some barricades. She placed the nails down next to Pete.

"Thanks Clementine." Pete thanked as he continued nailing down some barricades. However, he froze for a moment when he heard something coming from the outside. "You guys hear that?"

"What is it?" Nick inquired, looking at the window. "Oh, SHIT!"

At that exact moment, the window shattered and at least five or six walkers paraded in. Nick and Pete frantically found some weapons, Nick handing Clementine a hatchet.

"Here, you'll need this," he told her.

Pete raised a hammer and whacked a walker directly on his head, killing it instantly, but he and Nick were forced to back away, getting separated from Clementine.

Clementine heard a groaning noise from behind her, and she slammed the hatchet into the walker's skull right before it could chomp into her. She jumped away as it fell to the ground face forward. Her eyes darting around, she noticed that Pete and Nick were taking care of their own walkers. Suddenly, another walker came right for her, but she had to escape through a small sign, meaning that she had to walk sideways through it. The walker went in after her, but Clementine pushed through the sign and dropped it into the walker's skull, killing it instantly.

As she backed away into another room, her foot came into contact with a cable wire that caused her to trip over and the wire was tangled around her ankle. She quickly attempted to pull herself free, but the walker fell down on top of her and was prepared to take a bite out of her neck.

But before that could happen, Nick got out a pistol and shot the walker in the back of the head, pushing it off of Clementine. Once she untied herself from the cable wire, Nick helped her up.

"You okay?" he inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The door opened and Troy came rushing inside, armed with a crossbow. "Jesus, what in the actual fuck happened here?"

"Walkers got in." Pete explained in a tone that was obvious.

"Just get back to work, I'll send someone to clean this mess up." Troy ordered as he turned around and proceeded back towards his guard station.

He muttered something about "baby-sitting you assholes." Clementine couldn't help but grimace.

"What's his problem?" she wanted to know when he was out of earshot.

"Troy's a bit of an asshole, always has been." Pete explained as he and Nick began to board up that broken window before more of them showed up. "Even Bill thinks so too."

"I can see that," Clementine rolled her eyes as she walked over to help. She went over to Nick and help up the board as the older man hammered.

"Take no notice of him, Clementine." Pete assured as he hammered down some wood where the window use to be. This made their job even harder now.

Their progress was slower since the window had broken, but they eventually got done.

"That's it for now." Pete announced as the three of them exited the store and went back towards the fire exit that would take them inside Howe's. "Come on, let's go and see if Bill's ready to go on another supply run yet."

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><p><strong>Well now, Clementine's first full day at Howe's has been quite eventful, has it not? Thank you for reading and if you like, please review. <strong>


	3. Hunting For Supplies

**Once again, we thank you for the reviews and feedback. Not much to say in this author's note except enjoy Chapter 3.**

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><p>Clementine followed the uncle and nephew up to Carver's office, where he was just finishing up talking to Tavia on a walkie-talkie when he saw them approach.<p>

"Gentlemen, and girl, I take it you finished with the store area?" Carver assumed as he placed the walkie-talkie down onto his table.

"We did, but walkers broke in while we did it." Pete added. "We handled them."

"Got in, you say?" Carver repeated as he rubbed his hand against his chin. "Who was on watch near that area?"

"Troy," Nick responded.

"I just brought in the nails, and we were about to board up the window when they just came in," Clementine added. "They were too close."

"Troy, huh?" Carver huffed and placed his hands to his hips. "Well, I'll need to have a word with him about that. In the meantime, are you three up for doing a supply run with Vince and Bonnie?"

"We were just coming up to ask you that," Nick nodded. He turned to his uncle and Clementine. "Ready when you guys are."

"I'm ready," Clem confirmed.

"Me, too." Pete nodded.

"All right, go to the loading dock and wait for Vince and Bonnie." Carver ordered as he picked up the walkie-talkie to inform the mentioned names. "I'll radio them and let them know you're on your way."

So he did just that, and Nick, Pete, and Clementine were on their way. Bonnie and the same man from the truck, Vince, were waiting for them near the exit.

"We ready?" Bonnie inquired.

After a chime of the word yes, they were on their way.

Vince and Nick were in the front of the truck whilst Clementine, Pete and Bonnie were seated in the back, both of the adults armed with AK-47's.

"Here." Pete said as he handed Clementine a Glock 17. "Bill told us you were good with sidearms."

"Thanks," Clementine responded.

The drive out to the woods didn't take too long. Clementine hoped that, perhaps, she would find Christa along the way of this supply run. But she didn't know how she would react to her being with an all-new group.

Still, it was either with a group or on her own, and she knew she couldn't make it on her own. Clementine was lucky when Luke and Pete saved her life when they did.

"What do we need to do first?" she wanted to know.

"We're stopping at a nearby town. We've already searched half of it..." Pete began to explain and allowed Bonnie to finish up.

"Got a good bit of stuff last time," Bonnie confirmed. "Maybe we'll be just as lucky."

"Let's just hope it ain't crawling with lurkers." Pete added whilst he reloaded a magazine into his rifle and took off the safety switch. He also had a crossbow strapped to his back.

The first thing they did was reach some kind of gas station. The outside looked clearly deserted, and hopefully the little store wasn't another story. They entered, and so far the place was dark yet relatively empty.

Nick scanned around. "We should scope the place out."

"I'll go in first." Pete offered, slowly marching inside the gas station whilst carefully scanning the area with his rifle.

When no one heard any screams or gunshots, everyone else decided that it was safe to follow him inside. Clementine looked from left to right. The place had clearly been looted out sometime previously, but there were still some cans and bags of food left.

"Everyone grab what you can," Bonnie instructed.

They did what she said and grabbed what they could find, placing them into duffle bags they had brought with them. As they were filling them up with food, Vince had made his way into the backroom to check it out, and he returned a moment later with something new.

"Hey guys, check it out." Vince said as he walked back into the room, armed with a new weapon.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw he was carrying an RPG with a loaded missile.

"Whoa, where the hell'd you find that?" Nick asked incredulously.

"In the back." Vince answered as he eyes it cautiously.

"Be careful with that, Vince." Pete warned, knowing one wrong move could kill them all, especially in a gas station.

Vince just shrugged and kept the RPG close to him for safety.

Clementine looked around when she noticed something lying on the ground. She knew from the second she saw Lee's photo inside that it was her backpack, and she picked it up, smiling slightly. She cleared some room and began to place some cans of food inside.

However, how in the world did it get here? Did the bandits take it and use this gas station as their hideout? Or could there be a chance Christa escaped and came into the gas station with Clementine's backpack? She would never know.

Bonnie noticed her backpack and decided to ask about it.

"Where'd you find that, Clem?" she wanted to know.

"Oh...it was mine," Clementine replied after a pause. "I got separated from my friend a couple of days ago...I think it was stolen. But I found it."

"M'sorry to hear that," Bonnie said sympathetically.

"Well, what are the odds of finding that?" Pete replied with a grin as they walked out of the gas station and placed what they found so far into the back of the truck.

"Let's continue searching the town." Vince suggested, pointing his thumb towards deeper into the town. "There's still some places we haven't checked."

"Like what?" Clementine asked.

"Well...there's that department store across the street," Bonnie said, pointing to a said building.

"And a small hospital." Pete added as they walked into the town, leaving Nick behind to guard the truck whilst they were gone. "Should still be some medical supplies."

"And another RPG if we're lucky." Vince chuckled. Clearly he was not going to let that weapon go and keep it as his own.

Pete rolled his eyes as he followed the group over to the department store. He decided to go in first, and once again it was safe. There were plenty of clothes and blankets all around.

"Should we take some clothes?" Clementine questioned.

"Get ones that look warm." Vince replied as he grabbed a big coat and stuffed it into her bag. "And get blankets too if you can."

Clementine nodded and grabbed some shirts and winter coats, since it was around mid-December and would get pretty cold soon. Vince gave her some bags from the front to put them in.

"Hey Clem, I found this for you," Bonnie approached her then, carrying a blue rainbow ski jacket. "Thought it would keep you warm, it looks to be your size."

Clementine put the bags down and took the jacket, putting it on. She looked down at it and frowned.

"Well, what do you think?" Bonnie asked with a smile.

"...It's cool. Thanks, Bonnie."

Bonnie nodded and once they were done getting clothes, the group of four left the clothes store and proceeded to go and check the hospital that was right next door.

"Last place we got left to check." Vince announced as they stepped inside. He slowly marched through the hospital, checking every corner he came across. However, as he walked past, the door beside him burst open and a single walker jumped up, grabbing onto his shoulders.

"SHIT!" Vince yelled, grabbing onto the walker's wrists to prevent it from biting it. He dropped his gun in the process.

"Vince!" Bonnie yelled. She picked up the gun and tried to shoot, but only heard a click. "Shit! There's no ammo!"

"Here!" Clementine cried, quickly searching through her backpack and giving Bonnie two shots of ammunition. Bonnie accepted it and placed it in the gun, shooting the walker down.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie inquired.

Vince panted a couple of times he response as he picked up his rifle. "Yeah...Yeah, I'm good. Thanks Bonnie." he took out a magazine and was shocked to see it was empty. "What the fuck, my guns empty. I thought they loaded the weapons and checked them before handing them out."

"They probably put Troy on duty again..." Bonnie trailed off. "Come on. They're expectin' us back soon."

The four of them searched the hospital for any medical supplies, but all they could find were some bandages and some oxygen tanks. Still, it was better than nothing. Everyone regrouped at the truck and placed their supplies into the back of the truck. Bonnie and Nick got into the front with Clementine, Pete and Vince in the back.

It took about thirty-five minutes for the five of them to make it back to Howe's. When they arrived, Carver, Troy, and another guard named Johnny were waiting at the front.

"We got plenty of stuff today, Bill," Bonnie said to Carver.

"I can see-holy shit!" Carver gasped when he noticed the RPG in Vince hands. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep, an RPG, locked and loaded." Vince added with a smirk, but it soon dropped when his eyes narrowed towards Troy. "Hey Bill, a walker almost got me and I almost died because my gun wasn't loaded."

Carver immediately turned towards Troy. "Troy..."

Troy grunted, and Carver told him to wait in his office. No doubt he would get one hell of a scolding. Unfortunately for Vince, Carver told him to hand over the RPG for inspection.

"All right, here." Vince handed him the RPG, but he looked a little sad.

"This will come in handy." Carver replied whilst inspecting the weapon. He handed it to Johnny and decided to inquire about the rest of their supplies. "Were you able to find anything else?"

"We have clothes, food, and medical supplies," Bonnie explained, handing over some of the bags. "There's more food in Clem's backpack."

Carver seemed satisfied with their work and praised them on a job well done. "Hmm, good job. All right, go on and dropped the stuff to where we keep them. Clementine, Pete, Nick, head on over to the comic book store with Mike. We're going to be clearing it out to add some new things in."

"Sure thing." Pete nodded.

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><p><strong>There's the end of Chapter 3, which is obviously a bit shorter than the previous two. Chapter 4 will be here soon, and then that will complete this story. But until then, please be sure to let us know what you think of this one. <strong>


	4. Quality Time

**Here's the final chapter of this fanfiction. It was intended to be short anyway, so we're really sorry to those who wanted things such as Kenny's reappearance (we usually finish our co-written projects altogether before posting them). But Assassin's Creed Master and I appreciate the feedback we've been given, and there will be another project up soon with more information at the bottom. Okay, on with the story.**

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><p>Clementine, Pete, and Nick walked over to the comic store where a strong-looking man was stacking some comics into boxes. This was undoubtedly Mike. He looked up and nodded as they approached.<p>

Clementine remembered Reggie mentioning that Mike was cranky when he was trying to sleep, but now it was day time and it would be good to get to know him better. Even though he bothered to get up last night to eat dinner, they still didn't talk.

"Hey guys." Mike greeted as he placed a box into the corner. "Bill wants this comic book store cleaned out. He said to pack up anything we find into boxes and then he wants someone to board up the windows too."

"We can handle it," Clementine replied. "Do you need help?"

"If one of you could help me with these boxes, that'd be great." Mike answered.

"Come on, Nick, we'll board up those windows." Pete told his nephew as he picked up a hammer whilst Nick grabbed some wood. Hopefully this wouldn't turn out like earlier, but this time, someone else was on watch.

Now that Clementine was alone with Mike, she decided now would be the good time to introduce herself.

"I'm Clementine," she said. "You're Mike, right? Reggie told me."

"Yeah, that's me." Mike introduced himself whilst pushing away a now full box. "Nice to meet you, Clem. And cool hat."

"Thanks, my dad gave it to me," Clementine answered, tipping her treasured hat slightly. She picked up a lighter box and began to move it.

"So you only joined yesterday, right?" Mike asked as he picked up an old pipe and placed it in the corner where it wouldn't be in the way.

"Yup. I got separated from my friend, and Luke and Pete found me," Clementine confirmed. She figured she told enough people about the dog bite.

"Well, you're safe here, don't worry." Mike reassured as he leaned up and tried to grab a box on the shelf, but he couldn't quite reach. "Come on, dammit." he tried jumping, but that didn't work.

Clementine saw that Mike was struggling and still wanted to help. She figured that if he boosted her, she could possibly get the box down for him. So she walked over to him.

"Umm...I can get it," Clementine offered. "Boost me?"

"Sure." Mike agreed as he knelt down and picked her up, placing her on his shoulders. "If you see anything else up there, let me know."

Somehow this reminded her of the time she and Lee went to that station when they were searching for a blow torch. He picked her up in a similar way and Clementine was able to unlock the door that day. No, she didn't want to think about Lee now.

Clementine grabbed the box that Mike was trying to reach with ease, and she looked around for anything else. There wasn't anything except for a couple of superhero comics and a puzzle book, so she took those as well.

"Okay, I've got it," she called down.

"Thanks Clem." Mike thanked as he set her back down onto the ground.

Clementine nodded and placed the box where it needed to go.

After they were done packing all the comic books, Clementine and Mike went to go and move a nearby shelf that was lying on the floor. "Think you can help me lift this?" Mike asked as he got on one side.

"I think so," Clementine replied confidently. She got to the other side and held on the shelf. "Lift on three?"

"Yep, on three." Mike agreed as he began to do the counting. "One, two, three!"

They lifted the shelf (Clementine having some slight trouble since the shelf was pretty heavy and she wasn't as strong as Mike) and brought it over to the corner, standing it up.

"Thanks for the help." Mike thanked as they pushed it over towards a wall where it wouldn't be in the way.

"No problem," Clementine responded. "Anything else you need help with?"

"That depends, you like mopping?" Mike inquired with a small grin.

"No, but I'll help," Clementine teased, returning the grin.

"In that bathroom over there, there's blood all over the floor." Mike explained gesturing his arm towards the door in the corner. "There's a mop and bucket in there."

"Oh..." Clementine trailed off. "Did something happen?"

"Don't worry; it was there when we first moved in here." Mike began to explain whilst he continued his own work. "We had to clear out the walkers, but we haven't finished with the place fully yet."

Clementine nodded understandably, and dipped the mop in the bucket of water. Mopping was never her favorite chore, but it would have to do if she didn't want to make Carver angry. He didn't seem like a bad man though.

It wasn't easy to stand the sight of blood; even despite the fact after all she had seen. At least there were no bodies in here. Clementine got to work on her chores for a while until otherwise.

After about an hour and a half, they were called back to the yard for dinner and to wind down.

Everyone took a seat around the fire and was served their dinner for the afternoon which was some sandwiches. They all decided to make conversation for a while until they had to go back to work with Luke being the one to start up.

"So, any progress on the wall today?" Luke asked Pete.

"Walkers broken through earlier but we handled them." Pete assured after taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Luke raised his eyebrows in a curious fashion, but decided not to prod anybody.

"A lurker snuck up on Vince during our supply run, I heard," Nick spoke up.

"It's true." Pete agreed. "His gun wasn't even loaded, luckily Bonnie saved him with the help of Clementine." He gave the eleven-year-old a smile.

Helen smiled and praised Clementine, telling her that she was tough for a little girl.

"Thanks," Clementine responded.

"Rebecca and I are moving out in two days." Alvin spoke up, earning stares from everyone present. "Bill said they're getting to work on more room areas. All of us should be out of here pretty soon."

"That's great, it'll be good to get out of the cold," Luke answered.

"They're not big yet so some of us might have to share rooms for a while." Pete informed them. "Anyone mind that?"

"Nope." Carlos shook his head.

"I don't mind," Clementine added, being honest. Sharing a room was much better than sharing the cold forest ground, in her opinion. "Is there anything else we need to do?"

"Nah, I think we're good for a while." Reggie assured with a shrug from his one arm.

This was fine with the others, and they were all glad to have time to unwind. Nick turned around from speaking to his mother and decided to ask something. "So, what does everyone think Carver will do with that RPG?"

Reggie's eyes widened. "RPG? As in rocket launcher?"

"Yeah, Vince found it during a supply run." Pete confirmed.

"And almost got killed because Troy forgot to load the guns," Nick rolled his eyes. Everyone in this pen seemed to know that Troy wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed at times.

"And why he's one of Carver's best guards I do not know." Helen replied with a sigh.

Clementine shook her head. She hadn't been here long and already she disliked Troy, along with the rest. But she was hoping that they could steer the conversation away from him. "Maybe the RPG will be used for emergencies," she hypothesized.

"For a horde, maybe." Pete assumed.

For no reason, Helen decided to bring up another question for the young girl. "So Clementine, will you be staying with us permanently?"

That was a question she had to think about. She looked at the ground for a few moments before giving out her reply. "I...don't know. Maybe, but Christa's still missing. The place where I last saw her is miles away."

"Well, it's up to you, Clementine, but do what you feel is right." Carlos suggested with his arms folded.

"Thank you," Clem responded, glad that these people would respect whatever decision she came up with. But who knew, maybe Christa would turn up at this place herself. But it was highly unlikely that she would instantly trust complete strangers.

But as much as she wanted to find Christa, Howe's was the safest place and the only place she wanted to be right now. They had people, food, water, weapons, and shelter, everything she could ask for in this god-forsaken world. And the odds of finding Christa again were very slim.

A guard that Clementine didn't know the name of entered the yard to collect the empty plates for dish-washing, and let everyone know that there was one hour until lights out.

During that one hour, she got the chance to learn more about her new friends like where they were from, what they did before the apocalypse, and how they ended up here. It was nice to finally look get the chance to talk to people in peace rather than having to constantly look over shoulder every day.

Howe's was her home now. It had everything she could ask for. She was here for good now. It's what Lee would have wanted, for her to be safe.

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><p><strong>And that completes this (somewhat) mini fanfic. There will be another co-written work by the two of us that will be posted on ACM's profile sometime in the near future. It's a non-zombie apocalypse AU story that will mainly focus on Lee (but will occasionally switch over to other characters) after he moves into an Atlanta neighborhood, interacting with characters from both seasons as well as 400 Days. So, be on the lookout for that. Once again, we'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review and we'll see you next time. Bye! :)<strong>


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